[Noisebridge-discuss] To the @#$er that broke into my member shelf...

[John Withers]

On 03/20/2013 05:42 PM, Robert "Finny" Merrill wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 11:59 AM, John Withers <jwithers at reddagger.org> wrote:
>> NB does a lot of things well, and certain things related to the intersection
>> of political awareness and technology culture *really* well. But being a
>> place useful for hackers who work on anything but political agendas and
>> software, not so much at this point.
> You refer to noisebridge in the third person, as if you are not part
> of it. This is probably a big part of why you have this attitude.
>
That is very possible. At this point I don't feel a part of it. My 
interest in progressive political agendas is notably less than my 
interest in working equipment and having a somewhat secure space. Any 
efforts to express these feelings are pretty much met with contempt and 
fairly obviously don't jibe with the overall feelings of the community.

And there is nothing wrong with that. It might not be fitting for me 
personally and my needs, but it obviously does meet the needs of a 
number of people who are using the space very regularly. And I don't 
mean to denigrate the things that NB is doing very well. It is teaching 
dozens if not hundreds of people a week. When Danny pushes some writing 
related to what we do, it goes loud. Etc, etc.

But at the same time, anyone who denies that anything you leave in the 
space has a 50/50 chance of turning to crack in the next 24 hours is 
ignoring reality. Certain classes of tools simply can't be kept at NB 
because they disappear nearly instantly. And that makes the space less 
than optimal for a number of us who hack hardware. There has also been a 
lot of talk in the last year or so about the space not being physically 
safe for some groups of people. Being a not-small white male who appears 
middle class, I haven't felt this personally and will not attempt to 
speak for others who do a far better job than I could of making their 
own concerns known. But I don't think these issues are completely 
unconnected.

NB is really good at some things, it kinda sucks at others. My primary 
interests at this point fall mostly into the parts it kinda sucks at and 
attempting to talk to people about ways that might change has been 
resoundingly unsuccessful, although very possibly that is just cause I 
am an asshole in general and not the issues involved, dunno.

So while I am a member of NB at the moment, I don't feel very much a 
part of it. And that's okay. Getting annoyed in life cause you want a 
screwdriver and can only find a hammer doesn't mean hammers aren't 
damned handy things to have.